Should I automate?

[MrWhereItsAt]

We all know Vels' word is divine, but I feel I have a confession.

Forgive me Vel, for I have sinned against your sublime word! I have Automated!!!

But I have a good reason - I automate ONLY in the "don't delete existing improvements" capacity, in the late industrial era, when I have tonnes of RRs to make. With this button, my army of workers (that outnumbers my military) can get on with their messy spaghetti trails w/out me having to move, Shift-R repeat etc. I have already customized my land to the point where I no longer care what happens to the remaining unimproved terrain (hils and Mts where there is only mines anyway, and endless RRs to build), so I have found that this automation works well.

Sure I could get maybe an extra shield or three - but it is only where you have an empire with resources enough so that one or two extra wouldn't even be noticeable that automation is necessary for avoiding part of the LGT.

[Shaka II]

One problem I have with automated workers is that they go to sleep without orders to do so, apparently when there is nothing else to do or during war time, when it is not safe to be out past city walls, they fortify.

A number of times, usually later in the game after railroads have been laid, I notice all my workers disappear (fortified). This isn't too bad although I would prefer to be in the loop to decide if I should forify them or perhaps add them as population to appropriate cities.

Then shortly after, when pollution strikes they don't wake up automatically and start cleaning pollution. To make matters worse, when you try to activate them, usually it says that the turn has ended, requiring you to wait until next turn before the worker can begin work.

I like Sir Ralph's view point here on automation, although I get by (barely) on emperor level (normal size maps), not really using automation until pretty well developed. I think on a large or huge map, automation would be almost a necessity. So, maybe it will cost about a half level in difficulty, but it's a good trade off.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Shaka II
Then shortly after, when pollution strikes they don't wake up automatically and start cleaning pollution. To make matters worse, when you try to activate them, usually it says that the turn has ended, requiring you to wait until next turn before the worker can begin work...

Actually, they DO wake up and clean pollution. Unfortunately the patch changed the maximum number of workers the AI (which controls your automated workers) will put in a single square to 2 for some strange reason. I think it was to stop the AI workers from being as easily mass-captured by the human player. This is great if your a Democratic, industrius nation with pollution on flat terrain as the pollution will be cleaned immediately by the 2 workers, but otherwise you are out of luck. They will either take forever or you will have to manually (find and) send in the workers.

[vmxa1]

At the point that the RR's are done and workers are going to the city to sleep. I disband them and only keep what is needed. This means disbanding scores, a real pain. Why pay up keep for sleeping.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by vmxa1
At the point that the RR's are done and workers are going to the city to sleep. I disband them and only keep what is needed. This means disbanding scores, a real pain. Why pay up keep for sleeping.

Why disband them and not add to the cities? Unless they are captured workers, but those don't cost upkeep.

[vmxa1]

Why not add to cities? Because you do not need to, the game is over, except for the shouting and most of the cities are loaded, it is just easier to disband. If you want to add them go ahead. it does not matter.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph


Why disband them and not add to the cities? Unless they are captured workers, but those don't cost upkeep.

Especially if you have a few conquered cities in your empire. Adding a few of your Workers can help prevent reversions. I like the fact that I can capture swarms of Workers, it helps me build up the populations of my own cities. I had a game where I was capturing up to 4 Workers with every town I captured, and adding them to my own cities went a long way to building up my population base.

[pchang]

I add captured workers back to the captured cities and then sacrifice them to build instant military units which then go out and conquer more enemy cities.

[DilithiumDad]

AI terraforming is vastly improved in Civ3 over SMAC. In SMAC, cities captured from the AI would need complete re-terraforming. If you automated your workers, your land would just as ugly and deformed as the AI's. In Civ3, I have yet to have to undo any AI civ's terrain improvements.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by DilithiumDad
AI terraforming is vastly improved in Civ3 over SMAC.

I guess you mean tile improvements like irrigating, mining and road building. In Civ2 (and CtP1/2), there was an extra terraforming, allowing to turn the Alps and the Himalaya into Grassland, provided you have enough engineers and time. I thank God and Firaxis, that this unrealistic crap has been removed. Bury it and don't let it as zombie out of the grave, please!

[vmxa1]

What is unrealistic about leveling hills, we do it all the time in California. Have you seen what Japan has done to the sea to make an airport? I do not mind that it was removed, but it is not that far fetched. It only takes time and money to do.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by Velociryx
PS: And never automate anything! Automated anythings do a half-baked job for you....more tedious, but better by far to control them yourself!

I respectfully disagree. I have all of my workers automated (shift+A only) and they do a hell of better job them me.

[Dimension]

I find automated workers very useful. No AI control is going to do everything exactly like you want it, but automation definitely has its place.

If you could automate all your troops, you never would. If you ever got to the point that you said, "Man, I've got way to many military units," you would immediately start disbanding them, because they are of little use and cost you support. Workers are very different, though, especially when it comes to stolen workers. Slaves have no cost and require no support, so you might as well get as many as you can.

In general, I will make at most 5 or 6 workers. Once I have stolen about 20, I quickly add the originals back to cities. In the Industrial Age, I get Steam Power first, maybe Nationalization, then straight for Replaceable Parts. By the time I get Steam Power, I've got over 50 slaves, so I can put together rail lines in just a couple turns. When I get Replacable Parts, my workers get stuff done so fast that I have most of my size-12 cities fully improved (all the workable squares with RR + mine or irrigation).

Once you've got your core cities optimized, having a ton of workers can be a REAL drag. If you use Shift-A to automate them (they should make this more obvious with an actual button), they won't screw anything up, so just let them go crazy!

There are a couple places where Civ3 starts to drag. First is when you get Steam Power and have to move massive stacks of workers all around your empire. Second is the whole process of improving all the worked squares of your cities. If it wern't for automation, I would find the mid-to-late portion of the game VERY monotonous.

Later on, I keep 10-20 workers under manual control to improve future city sites. In my current game, I've got 120 automated captured workers milling about my empire. I would not want to be finding things for them all to do, and disbanding them would be a real waste. It's nice to see them trying to keep busy

I just can't help loving free labor. Even after I've got 100 workers, I'll still pay the AI the 20 gold for another one when I see them in the capital.

Of course, this only applies because I use 100% slave labor. If you were using your own workers (in which case you should be playing an Industrious civ), you don't need as many, and you definitely should be controlling them manually and adding them back to new cities when you run out of things for them to do.

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
And if I notice one to make nonsense like cutting a forest I just planted, well, I override the automation,

shift-a, and they won't cut existing forests.

At the beginning, I improve tiles that are being used by the city, or that are soon to be used. Of course, irrigation of grasslands doesn't help under despotism, so mine instead. Build a road (ctrl-r) to connect your cities and don't forget to connect the resources. When I reach Republic, a few of those mined grasslands are changed to irrigation and a few hills and mountains are mined instead.

At the point when every used tile is already improved (each city can only use 12), then I automate the workers with (shift-a).

When steam power is invented, I produce more workers, about one per city, who then build a railroad to the capital. Once all the cities are connected, which only takes a few turns, automate (shift-a) again.

By the time you have hospitals built, the rest of your tiles are already mostly developed, so it does not require micromanaging in most cases, except perhaps around your biggest city producers.

Of course, you can always grab a couple if you have a special need.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Zachriel


shift-a, and they won't cut existing forests.

No sorry, they will still cut down Forests. The only way I could get mine to stop was to add a mining bonus.

BTW, doing that also means that Railroads will increase production in Forest squares, which I understand they don't now. Almost 2 months now and I still haven't reached that point. Damn that editor!!